Leading dance venue Sadler’s Wells is to use the internet to unearth the next generation of dance talent.
New website globaldancecontest.com will be used to find new dance talent from across the globe with a contest that launches on Monday 2 March.
The annual project, which will run over four years, will see each yearly winner receive £2,000 prize money and be brought to London from wherever in the world they live, to perform on the Sadler’s Wells main stage as part of Sadler’s Wells Sampled. The culmination of the contest will see all of the winners perform together in 2012.
Interested dancers, who must be over 18 to qualify, must pass through two stages of competition to reach Sadler’s Wells. Stage 1 involves creating a video of their own original dance which must be uploaded to internet video sharing site YouTube. These offerings will be judged by a panel including Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director Alistair Spalding, Strictly Come Dancing’s Arlene Philips, the Royal Ballet’s Zenaida Yanowsky and Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed. The panel will whittle the entrants down to a shortlist of 10 dancers, who must then create a new piece to be voted for by the public.
Speaking about the new contest, Spalding said: Judging by the popularity of the dance clips and comments on YouTube there is huge talent and a massive appetite for every conceivable form of dance out there in the global community. Not everyone is lucky enough to receive formal dance training or to perform on stage and I’m incredibly excited that Sadler’s Wells can offer the potential stars of the future a chance to demonstrate their creative skills. The lucky winners will have a truly remarkable opportunity to perform alongside some of the greatest names in dance today and perhaps begin a career not otherwise imagined.”
Sadler’s Wells Sampled brings together a wide range of dance talents over the space of one weekend, to delight seasoned dance fans and newcomers alike with the breadth and diversity of the art form. Previous Sampled weekends have included performances by American Ballet Theatre, Random Dance, Rambert Dance Company, Jason Samuels Smith, Maria Pages and Franck II Louise.
MA